


Blood and Vengeance

by AsexualArchivist



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, sorry :/ - Freeform, spoilers for ep 29
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 04:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15598023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsexualArchivist/pseuds/AsexualArchivist
Summary: Caleb really, REALLY hates Lorenzo.





	Blood and Vengeance

**Author's Note:**

> yo spoilers for the most recent episode  
> i had to write this cuz MOLLY AND CALEB ARE STILL IN LOVE AND THEY WILL BE AS LONG AS IVE GOT ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT.  
> also yall shoulda known i would use the fact that caleb got the killing blow as widomauk fuel what do you take me for? a fool?

Caleb... _hurt_.

Of course, Caleb was used to hurting. He had taken his fair share of blows, been at death's door his fair share of times.

But that didn't make it hurt any less.

"You're okay, you're okay, you're okay," he mumbled to himself as he sat down hard in the middle of the stairs. Lorenzo was laughing at something. That probably wasn't good. Caleb couldn't find it in himself to care who he was laughing at.

He felt his blood pool underneath his hands, dripping onto the stone floor.

That should definitely be inside him, right now.

Ouch.

Caleb saw a burst of blue energy, and a cone of cold burst forth from Lorenzo's hand. Beau and Shakaste both crumpled to the ground, ice cracking across their skin. Caleb struggled to lift his arm, do _something_ , but couldn't find the strength.

 _They will be okay,_ Caleb told himself. _That new one, the pink one, will help them._

His wounds seemed to ache worse at the thought. Whether it was guilt over his own ability to stay conscious, or jealousy at the fact that they would be healed before him, he didn't know.

Maybe it was worry.

He jerked his head to the side to shake away the thought, along with his growing concern for Beauregard.

 _Nein._ Now was not the time.

Caleb struggled to his feet again, swaying. He squinted past the blurriness in his vision to see Beau back on her feet, with Shakaste channeling a spell close behind her. Caleb expected to feel the cool rush of healing magic any second- but he suddenly realized that Shakaste couldn't see him. He had hidden from view. _Scheiße_. He saw some of his companions' wounds knit closed, and swayed again.

Caleb's vision was starting to tunnel. He couldn't tell if it was just his ears ringing or the sound of Keg's ax hitting armor, but when he looked up to check Caleb realized that Lorenzo and Keg were at a stalemate. And that meant Lorenzo's back was to him. Open. Vulnerable. He didn't think. Before he knew it his hand was moving upwards, straight out, hand copying that motion he had seen Fjord do on occasion, and then he was shooting a firebolt from his outstretched finger.

For a second, time seemed to slow to a crawl.

The ball of flame curled almost beautifully in an agonizingly slow, deliberate arc towards the back of Lorenzo's head. It almost looked as if Caleb was signing his name in the air with the trails of smoke that followed it. 

_I like the way the fire feels-_

Caleb thought about Mollymauk in that second.

He pictured him in his mind, bright and beautifully gaudy. Caleb saw him stretched out lazily on the ground, propped up on his elbow, tail curling above his head as he grinned. Caleb saw his face slowly solidify into shape as a sharp pain cracked across his face - _time for that later_ \- and a kiss, just as sweet as the slap was bitter. He heard the gentle jingling of jewelry as Mollymuak shook with laughter, a joke Caleb hadn't bothered to remember, instead choosing to keep this image in his mind, warm and right. Molly leaning against a table: _I've never seen a group of folks more in need of a good time._

Molly, bloody. His coat torn, muddy brown and red.

A red gash slicing his chest.

But Caleb let that image fade from his mind, and he replaced it with the image of Molly leaning on Yasha's shoulder, muttering " _Ja, ja,_ " in his cute accent.

That's the image Molly would want him to see.

That's how he would want to be remembered.

And then, impact.

A burst of flame, a slow melting of skin into something horrible, other. Caleb stared, forced himself to take it all in.

Lorenzo, only now looking truly afraid, tried to fly off. It was too late for him. As Caleb watched, Lorenzo's body slowly burned into hardened rock, Beau and Keg hitting it on its way back down to the ground. 

"You shouldn't-" Caleb started. He swallowed. "You shouldn't have killed my cat."

 _You shouldn't have killed our Mollymauk,_ he doesn't say.

Movement, the others checking the cages for their missing friends- _our friends, they're important to us_ \- the world is still spinning somewhat, so Caleb stumbled over to the table that had been strategically tossed around during the fight and sat down on it. Stared at nothing. 

Their friends were there, alright. Unconscious, bruised- but alive.

Most of them, at least.

Caleb was too tired to stop himself from thinking about it.

The group stumbled out of the Sour Nest, dragging their unconscious friends behind them back into Shadycreek. The air was clearer and their hearts were lighter than they had been in several days. Keg and Beau were standing uncomfortably close, and Nott, seemingly oblivious to the sexual tension, was chattering away to Keg about some gross dead animal she had seen a couple of miles from here, wondering aloud if it was still there so she could eat it. Caduceus and Shakaste had fallen into an easy conversation about clerical magic, something Caleb could barely follow in his addled state. But Caleb stayed silent. Thinking.

He saw Mollymauk, helping him to his feet while Caleb sleepily mumbled that he was magical. Molly didn't seem to notice Caleb's little slip up, or if he did, chose graciously not to acknowledge it.

Molly was leaning towards him.

Molly was smiling at him.

Molly was close, almost too close but not nearly close enough-

Caleb made himself stop thinking, then.

He barely noticed the tears streaking down his face.

**Author's Note:**

> anyway who else is Big Scared for the rest of the Nein's reactions to Molly's death next ep lmao.  
> also super still have that last bit of hope that Molly will be back, can't wait for that to be crushed.  
> hope y'all enjoyed and leave a kudo or two (you can't actually leave two just leave the one if you feel like it).


End file.
